Invertebrates as Webmasters in Ecosystems D.C. Coleman, P.F. Hendrix (Eds.), CAB Interna- tional, Wallingford, Oxon, UK, 2000, 352 pages, ISBN 085199-394X (£ 55, US $100)

Abstract

The purpose of this book is to raise the level of understanding of invertebrates in terrestrial ecosystems and their role in regulating ecosystem processes. An underlying concern in this book is the lack of appreciation by the 'general scientific community' (Seastedt, p.293) of the importance of invertebrates, and this statement is echoed in the concluding chapter when the authors announce that invertebrates are 'often neglected' (p.313) in the analysis of global change. Part of the rationale for not considering invertebrates as drivers of ecosystem change can be attributed to the conceptual and logistical problems associated with studying invertebrates. One issue that resonates throughout this volume of 16 chapters, by 28 authors, is the question of scale. How is it possible to determine the impact of invertebrates on nutrient cycling, herbivory, detrital cycles, food webs and pedogenesis when the dominant paradigm is that 'soil invertebrates have large effects at small scales (mm-cm), but do not matter at larger scales' (Groffman and Jones, p.313).